TO THE POTTERIES 221 cunning men of their hands who are divided into "throwers'5 or "jollyers." (My vote is for "throwing/* as we shall see.) North Staffordshire provides the master potters, the "throwers" and "jollyers" and the rest of them, and it has the coal for the ovens, but it no longer provides its own "slop." In other words, the original ingredients come from outside the district, china clay from Cornwall, flints from the South Coast, and so on. The flints are calcinated, and are then ground into a smooth paste. I saw a very ancient machine doing this—it had been revolving and grinding there for generations—and was told it had not been improved upon yet. This paste is mixed with various earths and clays? and then most of the moisture is pressed out of the mixture. There is in all these works a fascinating machine called, I think, "a pug/9 and out of this the firm clay glides out in a continuous square column, to be cut into the necessary lengths. With the addition of varying amounts of water, it can now be shaped by the "thrower" or pressed into moulds. But the basis is still the ancient potter's wheel. There are scientists and engineers at work now in these places, but the fundamentals of the craft remain unchanged. These North Staffordshire workmen and the potters of Ancient Egypt share the same skill, and if they could meet and find a common language, no doubt they would have a lot to say to one another. Here, in short, you have a modern industry rooted in a traditional craft. Moreover, there is tradition at work even among these modern employees. I watched a man performing the difficult operation of "throwing" large meat dishes. These are made by taking a piece of clay that has been roughly pounded down to the required area and thickness and then quickly placing it on a plaster-of-paris mould. This mould is revolved at varying speeds, and as it goes round, the "thrower" rapidly and deftly adjusts the clay to it and evens out the thickness of the embryo dish. As the